October 19, 2007

These days my thoughts are filled with how products become aligned with markets and customers. Where do you start? What is ‘good enough’? How do you start off? What keeps people (no, not users, people) coming back?

Sure, it’s mainly trial and error. Though I have a good feeling that those that succeed usually have a flair for knowing what people want and how they want it.

Over the next weeks and months, this is my first priority, along with moving the product forward (reminder: Your business news, right now).

October 18, 2007

It’s alive! Topic Snack has sprung – it’s very exciting.

Read your Canadian business news in 10 minutes each day. We learn what you like and deliver it in an easily digestible package. Currently the site is young and the execution is far from complete. However, it improves every few weeks. We just finished a development cycle, and our next moves are to improve our infrastructure to ensure we’re on solid ground.

Expect your experience to improve. Here’s what you can look forward to:

Improved UI – OK OK, the current version isn’t the greatest; our goal is to keep it very simple and we’ve take that thinking far too seriously.

More information in less space – I’m unconvinced that headlines contain enough information. Soon we’ll show the first few sentences of a story which often give you the crux of what you need. Before we had too much information and we swung too far in the opposite direction.

Improved results – Finding the information that interests you the most will become easier when we remove ineffective keywords such as pronouns and adverbs.

Information sources more visible – The source of the article will be displayed, providing you context and confidence.

Our backlog is lengthy and we’ll tackle it with feverishly during each sprint. Your feedback is always welcome. Sent your thoughts (good, bad and otherwise) to andrew@andreoli.ca.